INFO.

AUTHOR.

ABOUT THE VOLUME.

During the 1970s left-wing youth militancy in Greece intensified, especially after the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1974. This book is the first study of the impact of that political activism on the leisure pursuits and sexual behavior of Greek youth, analyzing the cultural politics of left-wing organizations alongside the actual practices of their members. Through an examination of Maoists, socialists, Eurocommunists, and pro-Soviet groups, it demonstrates that left-wing youth in Greece collaborated closely with comrades from both Western and Eastern European countries in developing their political stances. Moreover, young left-wingers in Greece appropriated American cultural products while simultaneously modeling some of their leisure and sexual practices on Soviet society. Still, despite being heavily influenced by cultures outside Greece, left-wing youth played a major role in the re-invention of a Greek “popular tradition.” Finally, the book critically interrogates the notion of “sexual revolution” by shedding light on the contradictory sexual transformations in Greece to which young left-wingers contributed.

PRAISE.

"Papadogiannis offers an impressive panorama of radicalized youth cultures of the left in post-authoritarian Greece. He manages to convey both the organizational outlook of this dense microcosm and the lived experience of the people at the time, historicizing masterfully this transitional moment in which young ‘subjects in motion’ acted as a metaphor for change... the book uncovers the social, cultural and political layers behind the resilience of collective action in post-1974 Greece."

– Kostis Kornetis, New York University

CONTENTS.

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsNote on Transliteration

Introduction

PART I: PRELUDE

Chapter 1. Cold War Consumers: Cultural and social transformations in the 1960s and the early 1970s

PART II: THE MID-1970S

Chapter 2. The Left gains momentumChapter 3. The Shadow of the Partisans

PART III: THE LATE 1970SChapter 4. Breaches in the wallChapter 5. The “moment” of the occupations in 1979 and its echoChapter 6. Sex and the left-wing youth around 1980. An era of controversy